JOSEPH OKWUOFU, Ibadan
A renowned political analyst, Dr. Sebastian Chukwuebuka Okafor, has lamented the poor power supply in Enugu State, alleging that the state government, in connivance with the power distribution company, is gradually crippling the state economy to a halt.
He noted that for 17 days now, most parts of the state have been in darkness over the inability of MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited to serve its customers due to the reduction in tariff by EERC.
Okafor, in a statement, said the cause of the present blackout in the state is the directive by the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) to the MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited to reduce the electricity tariffs of all Consumers in Band A.
He said on the 18th of July, 2025, the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) issued an Order to MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, announcing the reduction of the electricity tariff of all the consumers in Band A from ₦209/kWh to ₦160/kWh effective from August 1st, 2025.
“Announcing the tariff reduction, which attracted praises across the nation, especially from Enugu State residents, the EERC Chairman, Chijioke Okonkwo, said that the reduction in tariff became imperative following the Commission’s review of MainPower’s tariff and license applications as the new subsidiary company (SubCo) that operates in Enugu State.
“It would be recalled that electricity regulation in the country has been overseen by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), but with the approval of the 2023 Electricity Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, state governments are empowered to generate, transmit and distribute their own electricity.
“They also have the power to establish their own electricity regulatory commissions that would regulate the electricity market within the states. It is such laws that birthed MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, which is a subsidiary of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), responsible for power distribution in the state.
“Enugu State became the first state to start the implementation of this law, with Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah assuring the residents that they would experience improvement in the availability as his administration is focused on growing the state’s GDP from $4.4n to $30b”, Okafor said.
Okafor said while inaugurating the EERC board, the Governor assured that Enugu State, being the first state to adopt the 2023 Electricity Act, would continue to lead while others follow.
“But what the residents, especially those under MSME that drive the economy, are currently experiencing is the worst form of blackout. The worst is that there is no solution to the problem.
“Information gathered from sources close to the distribution company in Enugu indicates that its mother company, EEDC, is going to lose over ₦1bn monthly if it implements the tariff as instructed by EERC.
“This, however, prompted it to reduce the energy allocation to MainPower thereby cutting off supply to all the customers in Bands B, C, D, and E, which thus indicates that over 52.2% of the electricity consumers in the state have been in blackout for over 17 days without any hope of the issue being resolved soonest”.
Okafor called on the residents of Enugu, that, “it is high time we begin to question the sincerity of both EERC and the Enugu State Government.
Their actions in recent weeks have proven that they are more interested in political showmanship than in providing practical solutions to the suffering consumers of electricity.
The fanfare around the tariff reduction was nothing but a deceptive public relations stunt designed to score cheap political points.
“The EERC’s reckless decision has plunged over half of the state into darkness, crippling businesses and throwing households into unimaginable hardship.
Instead of proactively engaging stakeholders to ensure a balanced and sustainable power distribution plan, they have resorted to passing the blame and making empty promises. This is not leadership; it is irresponsibility at its peak.
“Furthermore, the silence of the Enugu State Government on the prolonged blackout is shameful. For a government that claims to be focused on economic growth, allowing such a catastrophic disruption to persist without intervention reveals either gross incompetence or deliberate neglect.
In either case, the people of Enugu deserve better than being used as pawns in a poorly thought-out energy policy experiment”.
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